U.S. patent number 10,154,107 [Application Number 15/074,015] was granted by the patent office on 2018-12-11 for document distribution from a processing system utilizing pushed references.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. The grantee listed for this patent is International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Edward L. Bader, Nehemiah E. Clark, David S. Gaskins, Adrian Hermosillo, Bryan V. Pham.
United States Patent |
10,154,107 |
Bader , et al. |
December 11, 2018 |
Document distribution from a processing system utilizing pushed
references
Abstract
Distributing access to a document from a processing system
includes sending or pushing a reference for a document within a
repository to a storage area of a recipient system of a recipient
to enable retrieval of the document from the repository. The
reference is removed from the storage area of the recipient system
of the recipient in response to an expiration of the document.
Inventors: |
Bader; Edward L. (Los Angeles,
CA), Clark; Nehemiah E. (Los Angeles, CA), Gaskins; David
S. (Huntington Beach, CA), Hermosillo; Adrian (Chino,
CA), Pham; Bryan V. (Temple City, CA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
International Business Machines Corporation |
Armonk |
NY |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
59847931 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/074,015 |
Filed: |
March 18, 2016 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20170272527 A1 |
Sep 21, 2017 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
10/103 (20130101); H04L 67/26 (20130101); H04L
67/1097 (20130101); G06F 16/93 (20190101); H04L
67/06 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
15/16 (20060101); G06F 17/30 (20060101); H04L
29/08 (20060101); G06Q 10/10 (20120101) |
Field of
Search: |
;709/202-207 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
List of IBM Patents or Patent Applications Treated as Related, Apr.
2017, 1 page. cited by applicant .
Box, Getting Started Guide: for New Users, Box User Guide, Nov. 5,
2015, retrieved from
https://community.box.com/t5/Getting-Started-Guide-for-New/Box-User-Guide-
/ta-p/6807 on Mar. 18, 2016, 5 pages. cited by applicant .
Dropbox, Dropbox Business User Guide: learn how to sync, share and
manage your files with Dropbox Business, retreived from
https://www.dropbox.com/guide/business on Mar. 18, 2016, 67 pages.
cited by applicant .
Google, Overview of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, .COPYRGT.
2016, retrieved from
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/49008?hl=en on Mar. 18,
2016, 2 pages. cited by applicant .
WorkZone Exlporer, User's Guide, Scanjour, .COPYRGT. ScanJour A/S
2013, retreived from
http://help.scanjour.dk/wzcs/4.6SP1/UserGuides/WZExplorer/ on Mar.
18, 2016, 24 pages. cited by applicant .
IBM Corporation, IBM Content Navigator Overview and Demonstration,
.COPYRGT. 2011, retrieved from
http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/content-navigator on
Mar. 18, 2016, 34 pages. cited by applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Barot; Bharat
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Edell, Shapiro & Finnan,
LLC
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A processing system for distributing access to a document
comprising: a processor configured to: push a reference for a
document selected within a repository for a recipient to a
designated folder in a document management structure of a storage
area of a recipient system of the recipient, wherein the reference
includes a link to the document; retrieve the document from the
repository and provide access to the document by the recipient
system in response to actuation of the link from the designated
folder of the recipient system; and remove the reference from the
designated folder of the storage area of the recipient system in
response to occurrence of an expiration of the document, wherein
the expiration indicates a duration the link is available to access
the document.
2. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the processor is
further configured to: send a notification to the recipient in
response to the pushing of the reference to the storage area of the
recipient system.
3. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the storage area
includes a favorites folder.
4. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the processor is
further configured to: send a notification in response to retrieval
of the document by the recipient.
5. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the expiration
includes an expiration date.
6. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the reference for the
document is pushed by a content management system.
7. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the recipient system
is unable to reject the reference for the document prior to the
retrieval of the document.
8. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the processor is
further configured to: partition the document into a plurality of
segments, wherein a portion of the document including one or more
of the plurality of segments is designated for the recipient, and
wherein the reference includes a unique reference to indicate the
one or more segments of the document to retrieve for the
recipient.
9. A computer program product for distributing access to a
document, the computer program product comprising a computer
readable storage medium having program instructions embodied
therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to
cause the processor to: push a reference for a document selected
within a repository for a recipient to a designated folder in a
document management structure of a storage area of a recipient
system of the recipient, wherein the reference includes a link to
the document; retrieve the document from the repository and provide
access to the document by the recipient system in response to
actuation of the link from the designated folder of the recipient
system; and remove the reference from the designated folder of the
storage area of the recipient system in response to occurrence of
an expiration of the document, wherein the expiration indicates a
duration the link is available to access the document.
10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising
program instructions executable by the processor to cause the
processor to: send a notification to the recipient in response to
the pushing of the reference to the storage area of the recipient
system.
11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the storage
area includes a favorites folder.
12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising
program instructions executable by the processor to cause the
processor to: send a notification in response to retrieval of the
document by the recipient.
13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the expiration
includes an expiration date.
14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the recipient
system is unable to reject the reference for the document prior to
the retrieval of the document.
15. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the reference
for the document is pushed by a content management system.
Description
BACKGROUND
Present invention embodiments relate to processing systems, and
more specifically, to document distribution techniques for
processing systems that push document references to a recipient to
ensure a recipient is aware of the document.
In order to manage workflow, many organizations utilize processing
systems, such as content management systems, that track progress on
a particular task or document for a group of employees. However,
even with these systems in place, shared documents often get
overlooked or forgotten since they are frequently intermingled with
emails and tasks already present in a user's inbox or queue,
respectively. Moreover, employees are often required to use
multiple applications to manage their documents and/or use
expensive and complex workflow engines.
SUMMARY
According to one embodiment of the present invention, distributing
access to a document from a processing system includes sending or
pushing a reference for a document within a repository to a storage
area of a recipient system of a recipient to enable retrieval of
the document from the repository. The reference is removed from the
storage area of the recipient system of the recipient in response
to an expiration of the document.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Generally, like reference numerals in the various figures are
utilized to designate like components.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which the present
general inventive concept can be embodied.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example cloud computing
environment for the computing environment of FIG. 1 according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of abstraction model layers
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computing node according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a procedural flow chart of distributing documents from a
processing system utilizing pushed references, according to a
present invention embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting document distribution from a
processing system utilizing pushed references, according to a
present invention embodiment.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are screen shots of example user interfaces for a
user that is distributing a document utilizing pushed references,
according to a present invention embodiment.
FIGS. 9 and 10 are screen shots of example user interfaces for a
user that is receiving a distributed document utilizing pushed
references, according to a present invention embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Presented herein are techniques for distributing a document
utilizing pushed references. Generally, the techniques provided
herein push document references to any selected users. Since the
document references are pushed to recipients, the recipients do not
have the ability to reject the pushed document references and the
document references cannot be refused. Moreover, the techniques
presented herein create a notification separate from any emails or
tasks when a document is pushed to a recipient. Consequently, the
pushed document reference will not get overlooked amongst
ever-increasing email traffic. The notification also cannot be
deleted or removed by the recipient unless the recipient reviews
the pushed document. Moreover, in at least some present invention
embodiments, the sender may receive a notification when a recipient
has received and reviewed the document being shared via the
reference.
These techniques create a more efficient manner of distributing
documents, such as to a group of team members within an enterprise.
Moreover, the techniques provided herein allow users to easily
access shared documents and share documents without utilizing
email. Notably, when documents are shared via email, recipients can
easily forward updated versions without their entire team having
access or visibility to the updated versions.
An example environment for use with present invention embodiments
is illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, the environment includes
one or more server systems 10, and one or more client or end-user
systems 14 (including sending client systems 14A and recipient
client systems 14B). Server systems 10 and client systems 14 may be
remote from each other and communicate over a network 12. The
network may be implemented by any number of any suitable
communications media (e.g., wide area network (WAN), local area
network (LAN), Internet, Intranet, etc.). Alternatively, server
systems 10 and client systems 14 may be local to each other, and
communicate via any appropriate local communication medium (e.g.,
local area network (LAN), hardwire, wireless link, Intranet,
etc.).
In the present invention embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the server
system 10 includes a document distribution module 16 to control
distribution of documents between senders and recipients. However,
in other embodiments, the document distribution module 16 may also
be disposed, either entirely or partially, on the client systems
14. Document distribution module 16 may include one or more modules
or units to perform the various functions of present invention
embodiments described below.
A database system 18 may store various information for the document
distribution module 16 (e.g., documents, versions of documents,
expiration dates, groups of users, etc.). The database system 18
may be implemented by any conventional or other system, such as a
database or storage unit, may be local to or remote from server
systems 10 and client systems 14, and may communicate via any
appropriate communication medium (e.g., local area network (LAN),
wide area network (WAN), Internet, hardwire, wireless link,
Intranet, etc.). The client systems 14 may present a graphical user
(e.g., GUI, etc.) or other user interface 26 (e.g., a user
interface provided by a content management application, command
line prompts, menu screens, etc.) to solicit information from users
pertaining to the distribution of documents (e.g., the document to
be distributed, an expiration date, a group of recipients,
etc.).
Server systems 10 and the corresponding applications may be
provided in a cloud environment. It is understood in advance that
although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud
computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not
limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, embodiments of
the present invention are capable of being implemented in
conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known
or later developed.
Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling
convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth,
servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual
machines, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and
released with minimal management effort or interaction with a
provider of the service. This cloud model may include at least five
characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four
deployment models.
Characteristics are as follows:
On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provision
computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as
needed automatically without requiring human interaction with the
service's provider.
Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network and
accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by
heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones
or other devices, laptops, and PDAs).
Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to
serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different
physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned
according to demand. There is a sense of location independence in
that the consumer generally has no control or knowledge over the
exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify
location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or
datacenter).
Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elastically
provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and
rapidly release to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the
capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be
unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.
Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimize
resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of
abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,
processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage
can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency
for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.
Service Models are as follows:
Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the
consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud
infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client
devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser
(e.g., web-based e-mail). The consumer does not manage or control
the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers,
operating systems, storage, or even individual application
capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific
application configuration settings.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the
consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure
consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming
languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does
not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including
networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control
over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting
environment configurations.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to the
consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other
fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to
deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating
systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control
the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating
systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited
control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).
Deployment Models are as follows:
Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an
organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third
party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by several
organizations and supports a specific community that has shared
concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and
compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations
or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the
general public or a large industry group and is owned by an
organization selling cloud services.
Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or
more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique
entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary
technology that enables data and application portability (e.g.,
cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds).
A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus on
statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic
interoperability. At the heart of cloud computing is an
infrastructure comprising a network of interconnected nodes.
Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment
250 is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 250
comprises one or more cloud computing nodes 210 (e.g., including
server systems 10) with which local computing devices (e.g.,
including client systems 14) used by cloud consumers, such as, for
example, personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone
254A, desktop computer 254B, laptop computer 254C, and/or
automobile computer system 254N may communicate. Nodes 210 may
communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown)
physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private,
Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a
combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 210 to
offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for
which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a
local computing device. It is understood that the types of
computing devices 254A-N shown in FIG. 2 are intended to be
illustrative only and that computing nodes 210 and cloud computing
environment 250 can communicate with any type of computerized
device over any type of network and/or network addressable
connection (e.g., using a web browser).
Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers
provided by cloud computing environment 250 (FIG. 2) is shown. It
should be understood in advance that the components, layers, and
functions shown in FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and
embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. As depicted,
the following layers and corresponding functions are provided:
Hardware and software layer 360 includes hardware and software
components. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes
361; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based
servers 362; servers 363; blade servers 364; storage devices 365;
and networks and networking components 366. In some embodiments,
software components include network application server software 367
and database software 368.
Virtualization layer 370 provides an abstraction layer from which
the following examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual
servers 371; virtual storage 372; virtual networks 373, including
virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating
systems 374; and virtual clients 375.
In one example embodiment, management layer 380 may provide some or
all of the functions for server systems 10 described herein.
Resource provisioning 381 provides dynamic procurement of computing
resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks
within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 382
provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud
computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of
these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise
application software licenses. Security 386 provides identity
verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection
for data and other resources. User portal 383 provides access to
the cloud computing environment for consumers and system
administrators. Service level management 384 provides cloud
computing resource allocation and management such that required
service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and
fulfillment 385 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,
cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is
anticipated in accordance with an SLA.
Workloads layer 390 provides examples of functionality for which
the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of
workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer
include: mapping and navigation 391; software development and
lifecycle management 392; virtual classroom education delivery 393;
data analytics processing 394; transaction processing 395; and
document distribution (e.g., via document distribution module
16).
Referring now to FIG. 4, a schematic of an example of a computing
node or device 410 for computer environment 100 (e.g., server
systems 10 and client systems 14, etc.) and cloud environment 250
(e.g., cloud computing node 210, etc.) is shown. The computing node
or device is only one example of a suitable computing node for
computing environment 100 and cloud computing environment 250 and
is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or
functionality of embodiments of the invention described herein.
Regardless, computing node 410 is capable of being implemented
and/or performing any of the functionality set forth herein.
In computing node 410, there is a computer system 412 which is
operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose
computing system environments or configurations. Examples of
well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations
that may be suitable for use with computer system 412 include, but
are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer
systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices,
multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top
boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer
systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud
computing environments that include any of the above systems or
devices, and the like.
Computer system 412 may be described in the general context of
computer system executable instructions, such as program modules,
being executed by a computer system. Generally, program modules may
include routines, programs, objects, components, logic, data
structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement
particular abstract data types. Computer system 412 may be
practiced in distributed cloud computing environments where tasks
are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through
a communications network. In a distributed cloud computing
environment, program modules may be located in both local and
remote computer system storage media including memory storage
devices.
In FIG. 4, computer system 412 is shown in the form of a
general-purpose computing device. The components of computer system
412 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or
processing units 416, a system memory 428, and a bus 418 that
couples various system components including system memory 428 to
processor 416.
Bus 418 represents one or more of any of several types of bus
structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or
local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of
example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry
Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)
bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards
Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component
Interconnects (PCI) bus.
Computer system 412 typically includes a variety of computer system
readable media. Such media may be any available media that is
accessible by computer system 412, and it includes both volatile
and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.
System memory 428 can include computer system readable media in the
form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 430
and/or cache memory 432. Computer system 412 may further include
other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer
system storage media. By way of example only, storage system 434
can be provided for reading from and writing to a nonremovable,
non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typically called a "hard
drive"). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from
and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a
"floppy disk"), and an optical disk drive for reading from or
writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM,
DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances,
each can be connected to bus 418 by one or more data media
interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below, memory
428 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g., at
least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out the
functions of embodiments of the invention.
Program/utility 440, having a set (at least one) of program modules
442, may be stored in memory 428 by way of example, and not
limitation, as well as an operating system, one or more application
programs, other program modules, and program data. Each of the
operating system, one or more application programs, other program
modules, and program data or some combination thereof, may include
an implementation of a networking environment. Program modules 442
(e.g., including document distribution module 16) generally carry
out the functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the
invention as described herein.
Computer system 412 may also communicate with one or more external
devices 414 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 424,
etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact with
computer system 412; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem,
etc.) that enable computer system 412 to communicate with one or
more other computing devices. Such communication can occur via
Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 422. Still yet, computer system 412
can communicate with one or more networks such as a local area
network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public
network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 420. As depicted,
network adapter 420 communicates with the other components of
computer system 412 via bus 418. It should be understood that
although not shown, other hardware and/or software components could
be used in conjunction with computer system 412. Examples, include,
but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant
processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape
drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.
With reference now to FIG. 5, procedural flow chart 500 depicts
operations (e.g., of document distribution module 16) for
distributing documents from a processing system, such as an
enterprise content management system (also referred to herein
simply as a content management system) utilizing pushed references.
Initially, at step 510, the processing system (e.g., implemented by
server systems 10) receives an indication of a selected document
within a repository, a list of one or more recipients, and an
expiration for the selected document.
In some embodiments, the indication of a selected document may be
received when a sender selects a document stored with a repository
associated with the processing system (e.g., database 18 or memory
35 included in server systems 10). Additionally or alternatively,
an indication of a selected document may be received when a user
selects a file from storage local to his or her client system. In
these scenarios, a copy of the document may be made and uploaded to
the repository and then an indication may be provided in the same
manner that an indication is provided when a file is selected
directly from the repository. In some present invention
embodiments, shared documents may be divided or segmented
automatically upon being shared and/or uploaded to the repository
associated with the server. Additionally or alternatively, a
document may be segmented or divided in accordance with
instructions from a sender. As is discussed in further detail
below, segmented documents may allow for more detailed
notifications to be provided to the sender and/or more focused
references to be sent to recipients.
The group of recipients, as well as the expiration, may be
indicated separate from or together with the document indication.
For example, in some present invention embodiments, such as the
embodiment of the present invention depicted in FIGS. 7-10,
recipients may be selected in a drop down menu that is provided in
a sender's user interface subsequent to the sender selecting a
document. The group may include any number of recipients or may
include a preselected group, such as a team or committee from an
enterprise environment. Moreover, in at least some present
invention embodiments, any user may act as a sender, recipient, or
both at any time. If a user has access to a document, he or she may
share the document by providing an indication of that document, a
list of recipients, and an expiration. Security or document control
may be deferred to the repository or content management system
responsible for storing the to-be-shared documents.
The expiration may be an expiration date, time, duration, or any
other such period of time and may define how long a reference to a
shared document is to remain available. The expiration may be set
by the sender (so that the server receives an indication) in any
desirable manner (e.g., selecting a date in a calendar).
Additionally or alternatively, the expiration may indicate that a
link should expire after a certain number of uses, at the sender's
discretion, or any other desirable manner. In fact, in some
embodiments, a reference may be terminated (e.g., rendered
inactive) based on commands received from the sender at any time in
order to provide the sender with more fine-grained access control.
That being said, in some embodiments, recipients may have continued
access to a document and the push-shared reference may simply draw
the recipient's attention to the document, as is described below in
further detail.
At step 520, a reference for the selected document is pushed to the
storage area of a recipient system corresponding to each of the
indicated recipients. For example, a link to the selected document
(which is stored in the repository associated with the server) may
be pushed to a "Favorites" section of a document management
application of the corresponding recipients. Notably, since the
reference is pushed to the storage area of the corresponding
recipients, the recipients cannot decline or reject the reference.
Instead, the reference is forced upon the recipients and, thus, the
recipient may be more likely to review the shared document (via the
reference).
The reference also enables the recipients to retrieve the selected
document, even as the document is updated or edited. In some
present invention embodiments, the reference may be automatically
updated as the selected document is updated and, thus, may
continually allow the recipients to retrieve the latest version of
the selected document. Additionally or alternatively, the reference
may remain constant and the document may be continually updated as
users (e.g., senders and recipients) update or edit the document.
Still further, in some present invention embodiments, multiple
references can be created for the same shared document. Multiple
references may allow the sender to provide different recipients
with different levels of access or different expirations. In some
present invention embodiments, the access level, expiration, or any
other attribute of the reference may be determined automatically,
based on commands received from the sender, or some combination
thereof.
As an example, consider a scenario where two meetings are being
conducted based on the same document: a first meeting on a first
date and a second meeting on a second date, which is later than the
first date. In this scenario, any employees scheduled to
participate in the first meeting may be sent a first reference
which expires the day of or the day before the first meeting.
Meanwhile, employees scheduled to participate in the second meeting
may be sent a second reference (to the same document) which expires
the day of or the day before the second meeting. The different
expirations may ensure these employees review the document prior to
their respective meetings. If an employee is scheduled to attend
both meetings, the employee may be sent two references or a single
reference to the latter meeting, at the sender's discretion. In
this scenario, the expiration of the reference for a particular
employee may be determined by analyzing the corresponding
recipient's schedule and/or based on instructions from the
sender.
As another example, in some present invention embodiments, a
document may be segmented in different manners for different
recipients and references sent to recipients may reference versions
of the document with different segmentations. For example, if a
manager is sending a document to his or her team and wants to
ensure that different team members have reviewed specific sections
of the document, the document may be segmented accordingly for each
team member. For example, a marketing section of the document may
be separated into a unique segment for the team member in charge of
marketing, an engineering section may be separated into a unique
segment for a team member in charge of engineering, and so forth,
based on instructions received from the sender. Then, a unique
reference could be created for and sent to the recipient
corresponding to the particular segments or segmented version of
the document. In these present invention embodiments, employee
information, or any other pertinent information may be used to
automatically provide different recipients with references that
provide different level of access. Additionally or alternatively,
instructions from the sender to parse/segment a document and create
references accordingly.
At step 530, a notification is sent to the recipient in response to
storage of the reference in the storage area of the corresponding
recipient system. For example, a pop-up or message notification may
appear in the user interface of a content management application
utilized by the recipient. In some present invention embodiments, a
pop-up message or any other type of notification may also be pushed
to the home screen of the user's computing device to notify the
user of the reference. In some present invention embodiments, the
notification may include the reference, so that the recipient can
quickly view the shared document, but, in other present invention
embodiments, the notification may simply prompt the recipient to
view a specific file in his or her content management application,
such as a "Favorites" folder. In some present invention
embodiments, the notification to the recipient may also include the
time until expiration (e.g., days, hours, minutes, etc.), accesses
until expiration (e.g., one access left) or any other count towards
expiration.
Once a recipient accesses the shared document (e.g., via the
reference), a notification is sent to the sender of the shared
document at step 540. Server systems 10 are notified of the access
based on the recipient actuating the reference or link. Basically,
this actuation initiates retrieval of the document from the
repository by server systems 10, thereby providing notice of the
access to the server systems 10. In most present invention
embodiments, the notification sent to the sender includes the names
of the recipients or groups of recipients who have reviewed the
shared document and the name of the shared document; however, in
other embodiments of the present invention, the notification may
also include additional information, such as information indicating
a viewership percentage and/or a reviewed percentage. The
viewership percentage indicates the percentage of intended
recipients (e.g., any recipients included in the group of
recipients selected at step 510) that have reviewed the shared
document. The viewership percentage may be indicated or displayed
in any desirable manner, such as a progress bar, and may enable a
sender (e.g., a manager) to easily determine how many of the
intended recipients have accessed a shared document. By comparison,
the reviewed percentage indicates the percentage of a document that
a particular recipient has been reviewed. In at least some
embodiments, the reviewed percentage is detected by utilizing
document segmentation as discussed above with respect to step 520.
Then, as a recipient reviews segments of a document, the reviewed
percentage may be incremented accordingly.
At step 550, the reference is removed from the storage area on the
corresponding recipient system of each recipient system in response
to expiration of the reference. Regardless of the type or number of
references created and sent for a particular shared document, the
expiration set at step 510 may determine how long a particular
reference remains active. Additionally or alternatively, in some
embodiments, a recipient may be permitted to remove a reference
after the recipient has reviewed the document referenced by that
reference, even prior to the expiration.
In some present invention embodiments, expiration of a reference
may cause the shared document to become inaccessible to the
recipient of the reference. However, in other present invention
embodiments, removal (e.g., deletion) of a reference upon
expiration may not cause a user to lose access to the document.
Instead, the user may have permanent access to the repository where
the document is stored, or at least a portion thereof, and the
expiration of the reference may simply remove the reference from
the "Favorites" folder of the recipient's document management
system. In these embodiments, security may be provided by the
repository or the system managing the repository and the reference.
In other words, in at least some present invention embodiments, a
pushed reference does not provide authority to a recipient to view
a document. Instead, a pushed reference forces a recipient's
attention to a document that the recipient can already access in a
manner that cannot be refused.
Notably, even after the reference to the shared document is removed
from the storage area (such as the Favorites folder), a sender (or
recipient) may have continued access to a shared document.
Moreover, in some present invention embodiments, records may be
maintained to record which documents have been shared by which
users, which documents have been received and/or reviewed by which
users, and so forth. These records may enable a sender to review
the reference status (e.g., active or inactive, insofar as inactive
references denote removed references) of any references for a
particular document and, thus, may prompt a sender to re-share a
document that only has inactive references.
FIG. 6 provides a block diagram 600 illustrating an example
scenario where a manager is push-sharing a document reference to
three of his or her employees. In this particular example, the
techniques described herein are performed by an Enterprise Content
Management (ECM) system 606 (e.g., implemented by server systems
10). Initially, manager 602 selects a document 604 from a
repository included in the ECM system 606. The manager also
indicates that document 604 should be shared with three employees
(Employee 610, Employee 612, and Employee 614) and that the
expiration for a reference to document 604 should be two days.
Consequently, a reference 608 is created and pushed to a storage
area in the ECM application of Employee 610, Employee 612, and
Employee 614, such as a Favorites section or folder, for a duration
of two days. The ECM client application will then inform the
recipients, via a notification, of the new reference (or new
favorite if the reference is stored in a favorites section).
As the employees review document 604, download receipts including
an employee identifier and an identifier for document 604 are sent
to the manager 602 (e.g., via server systems 10). For example, in
the depicted embodiment, Employee 614 has reviewed document 604,
thereby causing download receipt 616 to be sent to the manager 602.
After the expiration date has occurred (two days in this scenario),
the server systems will then delete the document reference 608 from
the ECM application of Employee 610, Employee 612, and Employee
614.
Since the reference 608 is pushed (or push-shared) to Employee 610,
Employee 612, and Employee 614, these employees (or their systems)
cannot reject the reference. Moreover, Employee 610, Employee 612,
and Employee 614 will be unable to remove reference 608 without
viewing the document. This may prove to be extremely useful in
business scenarios where a document is being shared from one level
of a hierarchy (a manager) to another level of the hierarchy (the
manager's direct reports). As is discussed in further detail below
in connection with FIGS. 7-10, in at least some present invention
embodiments, the pushed references are stored in a Favorites folder
of a recipient's workflow management application and a large
message is displayed to indicate the presence of an active
reference.
Now turning to FIGS. 7-10, screen shots of example user interfaces
for the ECM system depicted in FIG. 6 are illustrated. The screen
shots included in FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a user interface for a
sending user while the screen shots included in FIGS. 9 and 10
illustrate for a recipient of a pushed-link. More specifically, in
FIG. 7, the user interface 700 is displaying a list of documents
stored in a repository. At 702, various folders from the repository
are shown and at 704, documents within a selected folder are
displayed. As illustrated, a sender can simply select a document
and elect "Add to Favorites" in order to provide an indication of a
specific document to be shared with pushed references. Once
selected, the user interface requests one or more recipients and an
expiration, as shown at user interface 800 of FIG. 8. In the
depicted user interface, a user may input any number of recipients
at 802 and may set an expiration date at 804.
In FIGS. 9-10, an example user interface is shown subsequent to
receiving the reference sent by the user in FIGS. 7-8. In this
particular embodiment, the ECM application provides a highlighted
notification 902 at the top right of the user interface 900. The
recipient can click on the notification which will take the
recipient to his or her favorites folder 1000, as shown in FIG. 10.
In the favorites folder 1000, any active references are listed at
1002, together with their expiration date. In some embodiments, the
references are sorted by expiration date; however, in other
embodiments, the references may be sorted in any manner. In these
particular embodiments, references received from the recipient's
manager are further aggregated together into a folder named
"Manager Created." This folder may separate pushed references from
the recipient's manager from any other references the recipient is
currently storing as a favorite, thereby easing workflow
issues.
The techniques provided herein have a number of advantages. As one
example, the combination of push-sharing references and providing
download receipts in a content management system may simplify the
content management experience, simplify workflow, and ensure
employees review necessary documents in a timely manner while
keeping a manager apprised of progress. The references also include
various context and may be personalized or differentiated for
multiple recipients within or between groups. Also, since pushed
references are deleted upon expiration, the techniques presented
herein remove the onus from recipients to clean or organize an
inbox, task list, reminder list, etc.
Still further, due to the techniques presented herein, shared
documents (or references thereto) will no longer be commingled
amongst email traffic and no longer need to be shared via email,
thereby reducing oversights and email traffic. Moreover, the
techniques provided herein allow users to utilize a single
application to manage documents (as opposed to emailing documents
and tracking the documents in a separate workflow application)
without implementing a complex or expensive workflow engine or
designer. The techniques provided herein also provide notifications
that a recipient has reviewed a shared document within an
enterprise content management system. Put generally, the techniques
provided herein resolve a technical problem that is necessarily
rooted in computer technology and, in particular, content
management systems.
It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above and
illustrated in the drawings represent only a few of the many ways
of implementing embodiments for distributing documents from a
processing system utilizing pushed references.
The environment of the present invention embodiments may include
any number of computer or other processing systems (e.g., client or
end-user systems, server systems, etc.) and databases or other
repositories arranged in any desired fashion, where the present
invention embodiments may be applied to any desired type of
computing environment (e.g., cloud computing, client-server,
network computing, mainframe, stand-alone systems, etc.). The
computer or other processing systems employed by the present
invention embodiments may be implemented by any number of any
personal or other type of computer or processing system (e.g.,
desktop, laptop, PDA, mobile devices, etc.), and may include any
commercially available operating system and any combination of
commercially available and custom software (e.g., browser software,
communications software, server software, document distribution
module, etc.). These systems may include any types of monitors and
input devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, voice recognition, etc.) to
enter and/or view information.
It is to be understood that the software (e.g., document
distribution module 16) of the present invention embodiments may be
implemented in any desired computer language and could be developed
by one of ordinary skill in the computer arts based on the
functional descriptions contained in the specification and flow
charts illustrated in the drawings. Further, any references herein
of software performing various functions generally refer to
computer systems or processors performing those functions under
software control. The computer systems of the present invention
embodiments may alternatively be implemented by any type of
hardware and/or other processing circuitry.
The various functions of the computer or other processing systems
may be distributed in any manner among any number of software
and/or hardware modules or units, processing or computer systems
and/or circuitry, where the computer or processing systems may be
disposed locally or remotely of each other and communicate via any
suitable communications medium (e.g., LAN, WAN, Intranet, Internet,
hardwire, modem connection, wireless, etc.). For example, the
functions of the present invention embodiments may be distributed
in any manner among the various end-user/client and server systems,
and/or any other intermediary processing devices. The software
and/or algorithms described above and illustrated in the flow
charts may be modified in any manner that accomplishes the
functions described herein. In addition, the functions in the flow
charts or description may be performed in any order that
accomplishes a desired operation.
The software of the present invention embodiments (e.g., document
distribution module 16) may be available on a non-transitory
computer useable medium (e.g., magnetic or optical mediums,
magneto-optic mediums, floppy diskettes, CD-ROM, DVD, memory
devices, etc.) of a stationary or portable program product
apparatus or device for use with stand-alone systems or systems
connected by a network or other communications medium.
The communication network may be implemented by any number of any
type of communications network (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet, Intranet,
VPN, etc.). The computer or other processing systems of the present
invention embodiments may include any conventional or other
communications devices to communicate over the network via any
conventional or other protocols. The computer or other processing
systems may utilize any type of connection (e.g., wired, wireless,
etc.) for access to the network. Local communication media may be
implemented by any suitable communication media (e.g., local area
network (LAN), hardwire, wireless link, Intranet, etc.).
The system may employ any number of any conventional or other
databases, data stores or storage structures (e.g., files,
databases, data structures, data or other repositories, etc.) to
store information (e.g., documents, recipient information, document
segments, etc.). The database system may be implemented by any
number of any conventional or other databases, data stores or
storage structures (e.g., files, databases, data structures, data
or other repositories, etc.) to store information (e.g., documents,
recipient information, document segments, etc.). The database
system may be included within or coupled to the server and/or
client systems. The database systems and/or storage structures may
be remote from or local to the computer or other processing
systems, and may store any desired data (e.g., documents, recipient
information, document segments, etc.).
The present invention embodiments may employ any number of any type
of user interface (e.g., Graphical User Interface (GUI),
command-line, prompt, etc.) for obtaining or providing information
(e.g., a indication of a document, expiration, etc.), where the
interface may include any information arranged in any fashion. The
interface may include any number of any types of input or actuation
mechanisms (e.g., buttons, icons, fields, boxes, links, etc.)
disposed at any locations to enter/display information and initiate
desired actions via any suitable input devices (e.g., mouse,
keyboard, touchscreen, etc.). The interface screens may include any
suitable actuators (e.g., links, tabs, etc.) to navigate between
the screens in any fashion.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing
particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of
the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and
"the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood
that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including",
"has", "have", "having", "with" and the like, when used in this
specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude
the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of
all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are
intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing
the function in combination with other claimed elements as
specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is
not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the
form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent
to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the
scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and
described in order to best explain the principles of the invention
and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary
skill in the art to understand the invention for various
embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the
particular use contemplated.
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present
invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are
not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments
disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to
those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope
and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used
herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the
embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement
over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of
ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed
herein.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer
program product at any possible technical detail level of
integration. The computer program product may include a computer
readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program
instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects
of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that
can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction
execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for
example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a
magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an
electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or
any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of
more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium
includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk,
a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable
programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static
random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a
floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or
raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon,
and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable
storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being
transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely
propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves
propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g.,
light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical
signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be
downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a
computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or
external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a
local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network.
The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical
transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls,
switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter
card or network interface in each computing/processing device
receives computer readable program instructions from the network
and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage
in a computer readable storage medium within the respective
computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations
of the present invention may be assembler instructions,
instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine
instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware
instructions, state-setting data, configuration data for integrated
circuitry, or either source code or object code written in any
combination of one or more programming languages, including an
object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++, or the
like, and procedural programming languages, such as the "C"
programming language or similar programming languages. The computer
readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's
computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software
package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote
computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the
latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's
computer through any type of network, including a local area
network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may
be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet
using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments,
electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic
circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable
logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program
instructions by utilizing state information of the computer
readable program instructions to personalize the electronic
circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present
invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with
reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of
methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products
according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood
that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block
diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations
and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable
program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a
processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,
or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a
machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the
processor of the computer or other programmable data processing
apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts
specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in
a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a
programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to
function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable
storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an
article of manufacture including instructions which implement
aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block
diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto
a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other
device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on
the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to
produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions
which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or
other device implement the functions/acts specified in the
flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the
architecture, functionality, and operation of possible
implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products
according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this
regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent
a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one
or more executable instructions for implementing the specified
logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the
functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in
the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in
fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may
sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the
functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of
the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations
of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can
be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that
perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations
of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
* * * * *
References